International Conference on “Esoteric Buddhism and East Asian Society” — Abstracts

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  1. ABÉ Yasurō 阿部泰郎 (University of Nagoya 日本名古屋大學): 中世日本における五蔵曼荼羅思想の形成と展開
  2. Deng Qiyao 鄧啓耀 (Sun Yat-sen University 中山大學): 《南詔中興畫傳》與佛教密宗傳入南詔核心區域的一次文化突變事件
  3. Lucia Dolce (University of London 英國倫敦大學): A Chinese Tantric Scripture and Its Ritual Exegesis: The Yuqijing  瑜祇經  and the Yogin Abhiseka  瑜祇灌頂
    The Yuqijing (Jingangfeng louge yiqie yujia yuqi jing, T 867) is often listed as one of the most important scriptures of Tantric Buddhism in East Asia, but its content and contribution to the esoteric system have so far been little understood. Traditionally regarded as a translation by Vajrabodhi, it was probably compiled in China in the late eighth century. The role that it played in Chinese Buddhism, however, remains unclear. Its use in early Japanese esoteric Buddhism was also negligible. In the medieval period, on the other hand, the scripture appears to have been rediscovered and enjoyed great fortunes: several commentaries of varying size and format were produced by scholar-monks of the major esoteric lineages and secret transmission documents (injin) circulated across lineages. Medieval interpreters intervened on the text by articulating novel conceptual associations, often expressed through curious imagery, which engendered a distinctive discourse on the yogic identities pursued by a tantric practitioner. At the same time, a new type of initiatory abhiseka informed by the sutra (yugi kanjô) emerged, which would eventually take a central place in the later programs of Taimitsu lineages.
    What spurred such sudden interest in the Yuqijing in medieval Japan? What did Japanese exegetes read into the text and how did they translate it into performative terms? What do such interpretative practices tell us of shifts in Japanese Buddhism and links with continental trends? The talk addresses these issues by exploring ‘canonical’ commentaries and unpublished initiatory documents that have recently come to light in temple archives.
  4. Amanda Goodman (University of Toronto 加拿大多倫多大學): The Five Buddha Crown Consecration at Dunhuang: Textual and Visual Evidence
    Scattered among the Dunhuang finds are several unattested Chinese Buddhist works that provide ritual instructions for conducting esoteric initiation or empowerment rites (C. guanding 灌頂, S. abhiṣeka). These initiations read like royal investiture rites: the initiate is instructed to don yellow robes and wear the five-buddha crown while receiving consecration on a raised platform called a varjadhātu maṇḍala 金剛界壇. Alongside these ritual instructions (yize 儀則), we find a separate body of guanxiang 觀想or contemplation texts in which the five-buddha crown is produced not in the course of a publicly staged ritual but as part of an extended meditative sequence, in which the five buddhas are imagined at five points on the head of the practitioner. Curiously, this latter text-type includes instructions for the generation and placement not only of the five buddhas but a host of secondary deities to be imagined at various points about the head and face of the practitioner. This paper presents an overview of the Chinese-language texts from Dunhuang that incorporate the five-buddha crown sequence, and compares them to transmitted sources derivative of the Jin’gangding jing 金剛頂經. In addition, it examines parallel Tibetan works from the site that document sādhana texts in which generation of the five-buddha crown figures into the visualization sequence. Appended to the paper are a critical transcription and annotated translation of the two known copies of one Chinese text containing a five-buddha guanxiang sequence from Dunhuang.
  5. Tamami HAMADA 濱田瑞美 (Yokohama University of Art and Design 横浜美術大学):  論千手千眼觀音變中出現的如意輪觀音和不空羂索觀音——以大悲心陀羅尼的念誦為綫索 (Images of Thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara with Cintāmaṇicakra and Amoghapāśa as attendants: References to the chanting of the “Dabeixin dharani 大悲心陀羅尼”)
  6. Hiromitsu IKUMA 伊久間洋光 (Taisho University 日本大正大學):『如来秘密経』をめぐって『菩薩蔵経』との対応関係を中心に
    The Tathāgataguhyasūtra如来秘密経 is one of the early Mahāyāna scriptures that was first translated in the 3rd century by *Dharmarakṣa竺法護. The Dharmarakṣa’s translation of this text is named as the Guhyakādhipatinirdeśa密迹金剛力士経 and has been incorporated into Chapter 3 of the *Mahāratnakūṭa大宝積経 by *Bodhiruci菩提流志. The Sanskrit edition of the Tathāgataguhyakasūtra is currently being prepared by the presenter.
    The theme of the Tathāgataguhyasūtra is ‘the three secrets of Tathāgata’如来三密. Being quoted in the Dà zhì dù lùn大智度論, the Benkenmitsunikyōron弁顕密二教論 and so on, this text has been a major influence on East Asian Buddhism and on East Asian Esoteric Buddhism.
    In the history of the Mahāyāna scriptures, it has been pointed out that the Tathāgataguhyasūtra has an influence on the Laṅkāvatārasūtra入楞伽経. The presenter pointed out that the Tathāgataguhyasūtra was the main compilation material of the *Devarājapravara-Prajñāpāramitā勝天王般若経, also translated as the６th chapter of the Dà bān ruò bō luo mì duō jìng大般若波羅蜜多経.
    In this paper, we point out that the Tathāgataguhyasūtra influences some other important Mahāyāna scriptures. In addition, through comparing the relevant texts including the Sanskrit manuscript of the Tathāgataguhyakasūtra, the position of this sūtra and and the three secrets of tathāgata如来三密 and of bodhisattva菩薩三密 in the history of the Mahāyāna scriptures could be clarified.
  7. Hou Chong 侯沖 (Shanghai Normal University 上海): 形態多樣的解冤釋結——經眼佛教科儀《楞嚴解冤釋結道場儀》敘錄
    此前僅見於敦煌遺書《壇法儀則》（BD2074、BD15147和甘博015等）及與其相關資料（P.3920d+ P.3920e等）、敦煌遺書S.2454v《一行大師十世界地輪燈法》中的設天輪燈、地輪燈等佛教儀式程序，不僅出現在雲南大理地區阿吒力僧使用的科儀文本《酬天謝地》（又名《酬願科》）中，亦出現在宋代楊鍔撰《水陸儀》和大理國寫經《諸佛菩薩金剛等啟請》中。近年來從雲南搜集到的三種《酬天謝地》文本，其內容大同小異，而且都包括有“一行禪師設地燈”等文字，與敦煌遺書《一行大師十世界地輪燈法》遙相印證。這一證據鏈一方面證明了南詔大理佛教和阿吒力教屬於漢傳佛教，另一方面也爲雲南漢傳佛教可作爲唐代以降漢傳佛教研究重要參考座標提供了新的例證。漢傳密教儀式程序，北有敦煌，南有大理，敦煌不孤，信而有徵。
  8. Iwasaki Hideo 岩崎日出男 (Sonoda Women’s University 園田学園女子大学): 恵果阿闍梨の胎蔵法付法の弟子・辨弘について ―　特に辨弘の「辨」の字の表記について　| 惠果阿闍梨胎藏法付法弟子辨弘考 ― 以考证辨弘的“辨”字为主
  9. Takahiko Kameyama 亀山隆彦 (Ryukoku University 龍谷大學): Visions of Yoga: Development of the Five Viscera Mandala in Japanese Esoteric Buddhism
    As frequently emphasized in various previous studies, Kūkai 空海 (774–835), the patriarch of the Shingon 真言 Esoteric Buddhist tradition, attempted to expound the idea of the manifold correspondence (yoga or yuga 瑜伽) between Esoteric practitioners, other sentient and non-sentient beings, and multiple Buddhas and Bodhisattvas by means of the eminent metaphor, “a vast net that hangs in Indraʼs palace” (Ch. yīntuoluo wang, Jp. indara mō 因陀羅網), within his Meaning of Attaining Buddhahood within This Very Body (Sokushin jōbutsu gi 即身成仏義). In other word, Kūkai clearly relies on the influential cosmological discourse used in the Chinese Huayan 華厳 Buddhism in the text in order to fully describe one of his principal doctrines, “attaining Buddhahood within this very body” (sokushin jōbutsu 即身成仏).
    On the other hand, with respect to the doctrinal concept “attaining Buddhahood within this very body,” it is also noteworthy that the Shingon and Tendai 天台 Buddhist monks who hoped to express their understandings of this concept during the Heian 平安 and Kamakura 鎌倉 time period frequently employed the different cosmological discourse widely utilized within the Chinese religious, philosophical, and medicinal fields, that is, the “five phases” (wuxing or gogyō 五行).
    In the texts such as the Five Viscera Mandala (Gozō mandara 五蔵曼荼羅), Reconciled Interpretations of the Five Viscera Mandala (Gozō mandara wae shaku 五蔵曼荼羅和会釈), Esoteric Interpretations of the Five Wheels and Nine Syllables (Gorin kuji myō himitsu shaku 五輪九字明秘密釈), authors enthusiastically refer to the connection between innumerable fivefold categories including “five phases,” “five stars” (Ch. wuxing 五星), “five mountains” (Ch. wuyue 五嶽), “five sounds” (Ch. wuyin 五音), “five tastes” (Ch. wu), and “five viscera” (wuzang 五蔵). They called such connection the “five viscera mandala” (Ch. wuzang mantuluo, Jp. gozō mandara 五蔵曼荼羅), and stated that “this five viscera mandala was the ‘hole of the Buddha of dharma-body’ (hosshin nyorai no sōtai 法身如来惣体) and the ‘essence of the yoga and three mysteries’ (yuga sanmitsu no kanjin 瑜伽三密之肝心).”
    It is strongly assumed that, during the medieval time period, Esoteric Buddhist monks regarded the five viscera mandala (gozō mandara) as one of the indispensable discourses through which they were able to intuitively understand the fundamental equality and continuation between their physical bodies and those of buddhas. The main subject of my paper is this five viscera mandala which seemed to be widely circulated within both Shingon and Tendai Buddhist traditions since the middle of the Heian time period. Who (which school or lineage) first conceived and wrote this influential mandalic idea? How did various Esoteric Buddhist monks organize and sophisticate it from the Heian to Kamakura time period? I hope to answer these questions through the careful examination of the aforementioned manuscripts.
    Specifically, I will first explore the organization of the text called the Five Viscera Mandala (Gozō mandara) after Annen 安然 (841-year of death unknown) who established the foundation of the Tendai Esoteric Buddhism. According to some previous studies, the Treasury of Siddhaṃ (Shittan zō 悉曇蔵) written by him is the first manuscript in Japan which carefully analyzes and integrates the Chinese cosmological concepts such as the five phases into the Esoteric Buddhist discourses. I will compare the descriptions in the Treasury of Siddhaṃ (Shittan zō 悉曇蔵) with those in the Five Viscera Mandala and discuss their relationship.
    In addition, I will also discuss the developmental history of the five viscera mandala from the Five Viscera Mandala to Esoteric Interpretations of the Five Wheels and Nine Syllables (Gorin kuji myō himitsu shaku) written by Kakuban 覚鑁 (1095–1143) the Shingon Buddhist monk who revived Mt. Kōya during the end of the Heian time period. I will point out the possibility that Kakuban followed the Five Viscera Mandala and composed some parts of his Esoteric Interpretations of the Five Wheels and Nine Syllables.
  10. George Keyworth 紀強 (University of Saskatchewan 加拿大薩斯喀徹溫大學): On Ritual Practices with Exoteric Buddhist Scriptures (kengyō 顕経) from Amanosan Kongōji 天野山金剛寺, Shinpukuji 真福寺, and Shōmyōji 称名寺
    Myriad sources ranging from Kuroda Toshio’s (1926-1993) ground-breaking methodological research about the exoteric-esoteric Buddhist institutional system (kenmitsu taisei 顕密体制) that governed the practice of Buddhism at the seven “great” temples during the Heian – Kamakura period (794-1333) to the remarkable Tengu zōshi emaki 天狗草紙絵巻 (Illustrated Scrolls of Tengu on Rough Paper) demonstrate how widespread and well-known the idea of the dual cultivation of exoteric and esoteric Buddhist practice was in medieval Japan. We know from the sacred transmitted documents (shōgyō 聖教) from the libraries of three temples—Amanosan Kongōji (in Osaka), Shinpukuji (Nagoya), and Shōmyōji (Yokohama)—that catalogs were produced locally to classify meticulously copied ritual manuals, commentaries to exoteric and exoteric sūtras and commentaries, and other documents. In a catalog he compiled for the library at Kongōji, Go shōrai mokuroku 御請来目録, Zenne 禅恵 (alt. Zen’e 1284-1364) even marked titles with the character for exoteric (ken). In this paper I first introduce Zenne and his catalog, and then present an overview of the sacred documents he marked as exoteric. Next, I cross reference these exoteric texts with those from Shinpukuji and Shōmyōji that are also cataloged and awarded special status. Then I explain how and why certain exoteric sūtras (e.g., Sūtra of Golden Light [Konkōmyō saishōōkyō 金光明最勝王経, T no. 665]) and commentaries (see Kim Jiyun’s paper in this conference) were studied, ritually read, and upheld as part and parcel of the exoteric-esoteric Buddhist ritual repertoire well into the medieval period in Japan. Finally, I explain why exoteric Buddhism must not be excluded from the study of the history of medieval Japanese Shingon, Tendai, and Nara Buddhism.
  11. Jiyun Kim 金知妍 (Geumgang University 金剛大學): The Interpretation of the Unique Mantra of the Shi moheyanlun 釋摩訶衍論 in China and Japan
    The Shi moheyanlun 釋摩訶衍論 (T 1668; abbreviated as Shilun) is the commentaries on the Awakening of Mahāyāna Faith 大乘起信論 (T 1666). This was composed of ten volumes, and, under the title of each book, Nāgārjuna 龍樹 (2nd–3rd century) was written as the author. However, the debate on whether Nāgārjuna was the writer or not began in the 8th century, when the Shilun was transferred from China to Japan.In spite of this controversy, Kukai 空海 (774–835) who is the founder of Shingon Buddhism 眞言宗 in Japan admitted that the Shilun is the Nāgārjuna’s book and placed it a key position in Shingon Teaching. Thus, Shingon monks studied the Shilun essentially, and many commentaries on Shilun have been made by them as well as other Buddhism’s monks continuously. Furthermore, in China, the Emperor Daozong 道宗 (1032–1101) of Liao 遼 valued the Shilun, so he learned and encouraged monks to study this book. As a result, the outstanding monks of Liao such as Fǎ wù 法悟, Zhì fú 志福 published annotation books, and they had been exported to Korea, especially Goryeo, and Japan.One of the common reasons why Kukai and Emperor Daozong paid attention to the Shilun is that both exoteric and esoteric Buddhism are included in this book. In the Shilun, the various mantra are described from volume 8 and 9. In the former, the fifteen things to do to achieve the cessation 止 are explained, and, among them, to keep an altar 結界 clean and to purify the place before building the monastery, ascetics should recite the mantra. In the latter, the obstacles which appear when monks practice are classified into four: binome 魔, non-Buddhist 外道, ghost 鬼, and supernatural 神. Varied mantra are described in the process of accounting the non-Buddhist.The distinct feature of the Shilun’s mantra is the unique shape of characters like. These letters look like the Chinese character which were changed from Sanskrit by sound 音詞. However, they are found in the Shilun, and nowhere else. Therefore, it is hard to understand exactly what this means and where they come from.To date, two Japanese scholars, Endou Junichiro 遠藤 純一郎 and Nakamura Honnen 中村 本然 studied the mantra of the Shilun. Through extending the range from their researches, I try to examine the meaning of unusual mantra of the Shilun by considering the commentaries on the Shilun. From this, I could figure out not only their meaning but also their origin. In addition to reveal the relation and to compare the tendency of esoteric Buddhism in China and Japan, I would like to study both commentaries of China and Japan, and limits my research to the annotation books in the 10th and 13th centuries: Fǎ wù’s 法悟 Shì mó hē yǎn lùn zàn xuán shū 釋摩訶衍論贊玄疏, Zhì fú’s 志福, Shì mó hē yǎn lùn tōng xuán chāo 釋摩訶衍論通玄鈔 (Liao 遼), Pǔ guān’s 普觀 Shì mó hē yǎn lùn jì 釋摩訶衍論記 (Song 宋) in China, and 覺鎧 Shaku makaen ron shiji 釋摩訶衍論指事, Dohan’s 道範 Shaku makaen ron ungkyosho 釋摩訶衍論應敎鈔, Raiyu’s 賴瑜 Shaku makaen ron kaigesho 釋摩訶衍論開解鈔, Sinken’s 信堅 Shaku makaen ron shiki 釋摩訶衍論私記 in Japan.
  12. Kim Younmi 金延美 (Ewha Womans University 韓國梨花女子大學):The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī and Pagodas of the Liao Dynasty (917–1125)
    Through an examination of inner and outer spaces of three representative Liao pagodas, this paper illuminates how the esoteric Buddhist rituals enacting the power of the Superlative Spell (Sk. Uṣṇīṣavijayā-dhāraṇī) were embodied in different ways through architectural monuments. Yingxian Timber Pagoda (1056) in Shanxi Province, one of the most famous timber pagodas in Chinese architectural history, was designed to form a thoughtful visualization of the Superlative Spell’s contents, simultaneously functioning as an architectural device to activate the spell’s power. a The finial of Qingzhou White Pagoda (1049-49) in Inner Mongolia, built with the patronage of Empress Qin’ai (d. 1058), served as a secret space enshrined with sets of dhāraṇī scrolls that symbolically enacted the same spell. Lastly, the relic depository inside the twelfth eaves of Chaoyang North Pagodas (1043-44) in Liaoning Province had a miniature ritual altar for virtual chanting of the Superlative Spell. Exploration of these Liao pagodas helps us better understand esoteric Buddhism practiced in Liao. Conforming to the characteristics of the Liao Buddhism, these pagodas seamlessly weave together an esoteric dhāraṇī ritual practice with profound Buddhist teachings on Buddha bodies and Huayan cosmology.
  13. Li Zijie 李子捷 (SOAS University of London 倫敦大學亞非學院): Kūkai and Saichō’s theories on gotra (種性)
    I have discussed the theory of gotra in Chinese Buddhism in several articles, and pointed out that for Chinese Buddhism, the theory of the stages of bodhisattvas is extremely significant. In this paper, I intend to explore the interpretations of this problem for an earlier period in Japanese Buddhism, with a special focus on the explanations of Kukai and Saicho. Apparently, the discussions about this issue in Japan have been closely related to those in Chinese Buddhism.
    I argue that although the Pusa yingluo benye jing菩薩瓔珞本業經 utilised the theory of gotra in the Pusa dichi jing, the Pusa yingluo benye jing changed the explanation of gotra. The reason is that the Pusayingluobenye jing combined the xingzhongxing (principle gotra) 性種性・and xizhongxing (habit gotra) 習種性 with the stages of bodhisattvas. It is noticeable that the thoughts and terms in the Pusa dichi jing and the Pusa yingluo benye jing are still mainstream according to Kukai and Saicho’s interpretations when they discuss gotra related issues. The theory of gotra in the Pusa yingluo benye jing and the Pusa dichi jing strongly influenced their thoughts on gotra.
  14. David Quinter (University of Alberta 加拿大阿爾伯塔大學): Eison and the Cult of Founders in Medieval Japan: On the Construction of Narrative and Material Selves
    This paper addresses the viability of constructions of a “narrative self” in light of the Buddhist doctrine of no-self by examining Eison (1201–90), founder of the Shingon Ritsu movement, and his narrative and material involvement in the cult of founders in Kamakura (1185–1333) Japan. The paper begins with brief analysis of Steven Collins’s distinction between systematic and narrative thought in Pali Buddhism. I suggest that this distinction helps clarify the relationship between the self of narrativity and of “conventional truth” versus the no-self of “ultimate truth” in Buddhist traditions across times and regions. Then, using Eison and the medieval Japanese cult of founders as a case study, I argue that even among scholar-monks actively engaged in such systematic exposition as that related to notions of no-self, the exposition is embedded within a broader devotional framework in which tensions between no-self and a narrative self dissolve. I conclude by suggesting that notions of no-self posed little impediment to Eison and fellow monastics’ promotion of a cult of founders that glorifies particular narratively and materially constructed “selves.”
  15. Saerji 薩爾吉 (Peking University 北京大學): 新見國家圖書館藏藏文密教儀軌殘葉研究
  16. Schmid, Neil (Dunhuang Academy 敦煌研究院):  The Dome of Heaven: The Role of Esoteric Buddhism in the Construction of Mogao Stupas
    Standing atop the cliff face of the Mogao Caves is a series of stupas, the most complete of which is the so-called Hall of the Heavenly Kings 天王堂. The stupa is remarkable for its domed ceiling and esoteric iconography that contrast dramatically with cave architecture at Mogao. Although identified as the ‘Hall of Heavenly Kings,’ disagreement persists about the structure’s name, dating, and visual program. This talk reviews the conflicting evidence and hypotheses previously presented by scholars, ranging from stupa constructed during the Tibetan conquest (781–847) illustrating Śūraṅgama Sūtra 大佛頂首楞嚴經 (T945) to a protective monument built during the period of the Return to Righteousness Army 歸義軍 (848–1036) under the Cao 曹 family. Recent research on esoteric Buddhism in Dunhuang offers insight into alternative possibilities, and these are detailed with the function of the stupa to create a sacred landscape in conjunction with other large structures in the vicinity of the Mogao cliff face, hitherto rarely examined.
  17. Shen Weirong 沈衛榮 (Tsinghua University 清華大學): 論西夏時代漢藏二種密教傳統的傳播與合流
  18. Elizabeth Tinsley (UC Irvine美國加州大學爾灣分校):  An Alternative Cultural History of Medieval Kōyasan Shingon: An introduction to an oracle transcription and what it reveals of esoteric art and worship
    This paper introduces some forms of worship and the visual materials they involved that are indicated by a historically-contextualized reading of a thirteenth-century Japanese oracle transcript. These forms and materials were particular to Kōyasan, a center for esoteric Buddhism in Japan, and were utilized during a tempestuous period of sectarian disputes. One significant object of worship discussed in the transcript is a standing “Two-Headed Aizen” (in both sculpted and painted form) which may be identified with “Yakujin Myōō”. The oracle text contained esoteric pronouncements about Kōyasan which were deemed essential for a community considered to be in danger of retrogression. The pronouncements were queried, transcribed, and treasured by the high scholars of the time and formed a shōgyō (sacred work) for the (now-mainstream, then contested) Chūinryū branch. With this in mind, the icons with which it deals may be re-evaluated.
  19. Steven Trenson (Waseda University 日本早稻田大學): Relic and Ritual: New Perspectives on the Development of the Relic Cult in Medieval Japanese Esoteric Buddhism
    Relic worship has been part of the Buddhist tradition from the earliest period of its history, playing a crucial role in the spread of the Buddha’s teachings, and has since then developed in various ways, affecting a wide array of doctrinal as well as practical aspects of the religion. There are many details surrounding the relic cult, and the nature of its role and utility varies with time, place, and circumstance, but one of the relic’s most salient features, perhaps, is the significance it bore to the attainment of ritual success or Buddhahood. Relic beliefs spread from India to China and Korea, and eventually to Japan, and it may be said that it was in the latter region where relic veneration acquired its highest form of doctrinal and practical development. Past studies in both Japanese and Western scholarship have already pointed out the great importance of relic worship to Japanese esoteric Buddhism (mikkyō 密教), especially Shingon 真言, illustrating the central place of the relic, or its cognate, the wish-fulfilling jewel, in rituals for the protection of the state and related rites, and in the legitimation of divine kingship. The present paper will build on these past achievements and further offer new perspectives that have been gained in recent years, including the results of the presenter’s own investigations on relic and jewel worship, which have been ongoing for quite some years now. More concretely, the paper will provide new angles on the historical development of relic veneration in Shingon and highlight some not very well-known features, such as its role in the formation of typical medieval Shingon discourses on embryology and the attainment of Buddhahood.
  20. Nicholas Morrow Williams (University of Hong Kong 香港大學): Kūkai at Prayer: On the Religious and Literary Rhetoric of a Ganmon
    The “prayer text” (Ch. yuanwen 願文; J. ganmon; K. wonmun) has a convoluted history throughout Asia in the first millennium C.E. Originating at Southern Dynasties courts, the form is widely represented among the popular texts of Dunhuang, but is conspicuously absent from elite Tang literature. In the Buddhist state of Heian Japan, though, Kūkai 空海 (774–835) and Sugawara no Michizane 菅原道真 (845–903) both wrote dozens of prayer texts. The importance of prayer texts to Kūkai’s work, in particular, was overdetermined, since Kūkai was at the same time one of the supreme masters of kanbun in the Heian period; a decisive transmitter of Chinese texts and their associated culture, as the founder of Esoteric Buddhism in Japan; and also profoundly concerned with the Buddhist ritual response and philosophical conception of life and death, through the practices and theory of Esoteric Buddhism. Moreover, these three elements of his career are all linked in Kūkai’s vision of mantra as a verbal link between emptiness and cosmos. His prayer texts, which employ mantras and other technical vocabulary of Esoteric Buddhism, are one prime realization of his broader conception of ritual speech. Kūkai, though borrowing from the conventions of the genre as he did throughout his writings, also recreated the prayer text as a more powerful vessel of mantric assertion. Where earlier prayer texts had had a wishful or desperate tone, Kūkai’s were grounded instead in his belief that death was not the ultimate disaster. This paper illustrates Kūkai’s innovative use of the genre through a translation and close reading of his masterpiece “Dakṣiṇā For My Departed Pupil Chisen” 為亡弟子智泉達嚫文.
  21. Pamela D. Winfield (Elon University 美國伊隆大學): Repositioning Power in Japan: Mandala Installation and the Reading of Empowered Space
    When the esoteric patriarch Kūkai (774-835 CE) first imported the Two-World mandalas into Japan from China in 806 CE, he introduced an unprecedented visual and ritual repertoire whose power, he insisted, could “enlighten in a single glance.” In addition, these images could also empower pre-existing and new Buddhist rites for healing, protecting the state, and other ‘this-worldly benefits’ (genze riyaku), but much depended on their proper installation and specific display arrangements. This paper will analyze the various display strategies for the Diamond and Womb World mandalas of esoteric Shingon (Ch. Zhenyan) Buddhism in Japan, and offer contextualized spatial hermeneutics to interpret the ritual-functional significance of their emplacements. Specifically, it will consider traditional arrangements such as the parallel confrontation model and the frontal display model, which are most often discussed in the context of lay or monastic initiation ceremonies (kechien kanjō), annual state-protecting rites (goshichinichi mishihō), and Shingon’s ubiquitous goma fire ceremonies. However, it will also consider new and original (or simply idiosyncratic) examples in modern Japan that nevertheless show the versatility and adaptability of the twin mandala motif for distinct functional purposes. Emplacements on ceilings, on doors, behind founders’ portraits or even arguably in government buildings, all suggest that the functions of Shingon’s double mandala motif range from individual propitiation and commemoration to advancing sectarian and national ideologies.
  22. Xie Jisheng  謝繼勝 (University of Zhejinag 浙江大學): 甘青川滇地區敦煌胎藏界密教圖像傳播路徑考察
  23. Zhang Shubin 張書彬 (China Academy of Art 中國美術學院): “文殊六字菩薩一鋪九身”考——兼論不空與大興善寺文殊閣的壁畫繪製A Study on the Amoghavajra and the Mural Painting of the Manjusri Pavilion in Da XingShan Temple
  24. Zhao Xiaoxing 趙曉星  (Dunhuang Academy 敦煌研究院): 敦煌本《金有陀羅尼經》研究——中唐敦煌密教文獻研究之六 / A Study on the Dunhuang Version of Jinyou Tuoluoni Jing——Researches of Middle Tang Esoteric Buddhist Texts (Ⅵ)
    《金有陀羅尼經》是吐蕃統治敦煌時期高僧法成翻譯的密教經典，敦煌遺書中保存了70多件漢譯本和4件藏譯本，數量相當可觀。其中一半以上的漢文寫本書有古藏文題記，及漢藏寫本同時出現的情況，說明這一經典是曾經被敦煌的漢人和吐蕃人共同尊奉。本文以這些文獻為中心，對敦煌本《金有陀羅尼經》進行一次全面的整理，同時討論這部經典在當時翻譯、流通和收存的歷史。關鍵詞：敦煌文獻  《金有陀羅尼經》吐蕃  Jinyou tuoluoni jing (vphags pa gser can zhes bya ba e gzungs) was translated by Fa Cheng (Chos-grub) in Dunhuang during Tibetan Occupation. There are about 70 Chinese and 4 Tibetan manuscripts of this sutra in Dunhuang documents. There are more than half of Chinese manuscripts of the sutra with ancient Tibetan notes. It shows that Jinyou tuoluoni jing was once respected by the Chinese and Tibetan people in Dunhuang. This paper sorts out and exam all the manuscripts about the Jinyou tuoluoni jing in both Chinese and ancient Tibetan among Dunhuang documents.